Museum exhibit tells the story of the Civil War through quilts

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Detail from a circa 1865 quilt, made by an Illinois woman from uniforms worn by her sons on opposite sides in the Civil War, in an American Textile History Museum display.

By Wendy Killeen
Globe Correspondent
November 08, 2012

STITCHING HISTORY: In commemoration of the 150th anniversary of the Civil War, the American Textile History Museum
in Lowell presents “Homefront & Battlefield: Quilts & Context in the Civil War,” through Nov. 25.

An affiliate of the Smithsonian Institution, the museum tells America’s story through the art, history, and science of textiles. The Civil War traveling exhibition is presented by guest curators Madelyn Shaw
and Lynne Zacek Bassett.

The quilt and its story are placed in a broader context through the use of textile-related artifacts, relevant images, and quotations from diaries and letters. Each object represents a personal story, including a mother’s quilt stitched with the uniforms of her two sons, one who fought in Confederate gray and the other in Union blue.

“This exhibition gives ‘voice’ to people who are often unheard and unnoticed in the din of war, as well as strengthens the American understanding of the complex issues at the center of the conflict, and humanizes the war through objects that carry culture and meaning beyond their surface value,” said Jonathan Stevens, the museum’s president and CEO.

“By focusing not solely on the homefront or the battlefield, but on how the two were inextricably linked — by affection, experience, material goods, ideology, sacrifice, or toil — our visitors will better understand the war’s lasting hold on American culture and memory,” Stevens said.

“Homefront & Battlefield” connects the personal stories about the war with the broader national context and history and examines how textiles were both an expression of and a motivating force behind American politics and culture during the Civil War.

In partnership with the exhibition, the museum is hosting “No Army without Music: The Songs of the Civil War,” presented by author, critic, and teacher Michael Lasser,
from 2 to 4 p.m. Sunday. The free program explores popular music of both the military and civilians during the Civil War.

The program is geared for dancers of all ages. Both circle and line dances are taught, so no partner is needed.

Ira Weisburd presents an Israeli dance workshop in North Andover on Sunday.

A piece by Weisburd, “Sonata,’’ won the 2006 Rikud Hashana Circle Dance of the Year contest. For the past three years, he has received the Dancers Choice Award for “Dancers’ Friend of the Year” in Las Vegas. This year, he has been invited to teach in Australia, Hong Kong, Canada, and Hawaii.

Sunday’s workshop, from 7 to 10 p.m. at Osgood Landing, is hosted by the Merrimack Valley Israeli Dance Group, which said the style of dance is growing in the region as a source of enjoyment and exercise, and cosponsored by the Merrimack Valley Jewish Federation. Admission is $10 with preregistration, $12 at the door.

WHO’S WHAT WHERE: Polly Pyle
of Pollygone Travel in North Andover has been

Kelly Noonan.

named a Premier Aussie Specialist by Tourism Australia. The specialists have been trained by Tourism Australia and are an elite group of retail travel agents dedicated to selling Australian vacations . . .
Kelly Noonan
of Beverly, a graduate of Salem State University,
is presenting two papers at the National Association for Global Business Conference on Nov. 16 and 17 in Washington, D.C. The papers, “Marketing to Green Communities and Green Well Being: A Personalized Approach to Green Marketing” and “Advertising and Green Business Methods: How to Successfully Reach the Green Consumer,” were coauthored by Noonan and Linda Jane Coleman, a Salem State professor of marketing and decision sciences. While a business administration major at Salem State, Noonan served as the marketing coordinator for Peabody’s sustainability program, Green­Peabody,
and received the Osram Sylvania Scholarship for academic excellence in business. She is currently the marketing coordinator for the Boston branch of Verdant Focus.

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